When Hell Stops Burning
by Jaydomination
Summary: "To be honest, I was basically just fighting them because I could." Everyone is gone now. Chara succeeded, everyone not in hiding is dead. But... for some reason the world hasn't been reset yet. In among trying to restore order and keep peace, Alphys finds herself caught up in the story of her predecessor. What exactly does W.D Gaster have to do with this dark, broken timeline?
1. Prologue

**Okay, experiment time: I'm gonna actually _plan_ this story! *le gasp* This idea will probably fail miserably.**

* * *

It was unclear how long the battle had been raging. Hours, days, aeons, mere seconds- given the circumstances, it was irrelevant. Both time and space were warped around that one building, a corrupted world trying in vain to shake off it's corrupter. The very stones of the hall were pounded, holding only due to the outward force of the potent auras clashing between the columns. The roar could be heard for miles, the glow lighting up the caverns like fire from the sun it had never seen. It seemed that the entire world held it's breath, ensnared by the significance of this moment: the judgement soon to pass would decide the future of the world. It was light against darkness, change against stasis, clarity against cruelty.

Neither had gone through this long trial unscathed. Perceptions blurred, the darkness creeping in- even as they fought at a faster pace than the average eye can see; either of them could collapse from sheer exhaustion at any moment. It wasn't a matter of _maybe_ , it was only a matter of the _when_ that would end this two-warrior war.

The pair were both at their breaking point. Sooner or later, one of them had to resign, to secede, to give in to the other's desires for the world.

 _Except they didn't._

When both sides are perfectly matched, it only takes a single action to tip the balance beyond the point of no return. Four moves, made in those very final moments, were all that was required to settle the battle between the two greatest powers in existence, for good.

And the first of those moves came in the form of a small flash of white. The smallest sacrifice, and a lifeline was thrown. Blade struck home, and blood flew; scattering across the shattered stones, across the fighters themselves... The second move came just as fast. A facade, a feint, a false victory.

 _"So... I guess that's it, huh? ... ... ... Welp. I'm going to Grillby's."_

Staggering behind one of the few pillars still standing, he waited calmly to see if his observation had been correct. Sure enough, the figure soon dissolved, and dust scattered across the hall along what faint breeze curled through the broken windowpanes. Even from here, he could see the smirk on the face of his enemy- but there was nothing he could do. This battle would never have ended in his favour anyway. Instead, he put what little focus he had into his own powers, and left that forsaken place.

* * *

 _The demon had won._

This, of course, came as no surprise to it. Somehow, it had always known that comedian would be it's final rival. Oh, it's job was not quite done, but it would have no trouble from here on out. The "king"? The "god"? They were both petty toys, to play with, grow tired of, and throw away.

This had not been the first time the world had been rocked by the Final Battle, and the demon had no plans for it to be the last.

Crossing the threshold into the throneroom, it looked down and crushed a buttercup beneath it's shoe. _I will never understand his affection for these pointless things. They die so easily..._ Turning it's gaze towards the pair, still deep in a heated conversation, it flipped it's knife impatiently- then had an idea. Throwing the blade at full power, it noted how the small flower's eyes widened, just before the knife went through it's head. _I won't have you ruining my victory this time, "god of this world"._

Asgore gasped in shock. "Why... what did that creature ever do to you, that you would be so cruel?! Surely you feel some kind of remorse? ...Or emotion of any kind?" he sighed. "Something tells me... you won't just explain this over a cup of tea. So be it then."

The demon walked over slowly, and pulled it's knife free from the shredded remains of what could once have been called "god". Turning toward the false king, it raised the blade to meet the trident-point that had only milliseconds before been rushing towards it. Despite the trident being twice their size, the weapon was mere magic, and so the demon flicked the weapon away with ease. In one swift movement, the knife came down, tearing through armour, fur and flesh alike with ease. Torn in two, the king fell. His dust scattered across the flowers, and the demon reached out for his SOUL.

And yet, the shadows in the room arose. Formed a figure. A final challenger, the ultimate denial of all that it had been working towards. Even with what it had beleived to be ultimate power, it was not the strongest. This figure, the form of a twisted and corrupted monster, spoke one sentence. The third and fourth actions that denied the destruction, sealing the worlds fate.

" **N** o _l_ O **n _G_** e _r_. tH **i** s _ca **n**_ N **o** _T_ gO **o** n." it whispered. The twisted voice, echoing against the castle walls over and over, consumed all sound.

Then it rose, reaching for the demon, seizing it, dragging it away into the void. The room was left empty, with all that hinted to what had gone down being a battered and dead flower, the dust across the garden, and a single, bloodstained dagger.


	2. Chapter 1

**Yeah, so this is my new fic. To replace my last Undertale Fanfic, which was terribly executed, and will be re-written at some point.**

* * *

Alphys paced around her room quietly, her own nervous sweat having long since soaked through her lab coat.

 _I hope Sans is okay... he said he'd try to stop this, but whatever disabled my cameras in the main hall must have started almost the second they were both in the room... He said he'd be here hours ago!_

She stopped in the dead centre of the space. "N-no, I said I'd be o-okay. Even if he... if he doesn't come back... I'm the only one that can work this place. People... _need_ me now." she murmured, trying desperately to reassure herself, and calm her nerves. Dropping backwards onto her bed, still messy and unmade, she thought to herself. _That- human? -could be anywhere in the underground right now. I have to... to make sure this doesn't fail miserably. Like every other time people have depended on me..._ she added hopelessly.

Alphys took a few deep breaths, and began fiddling with her glasses. Taking them off, she cleaned them off against the hem of her coat, going through the familiar and soothing motions. It seemed that the only constant between the world before all this, and now, was her absolute blindness without them. Despite how frustrating this would be for most people, she was glad to at least have one thing the same.

All her efforts to stay calm were wasted however, as a sudden flash of light, albeit weak, startled her again. "S-sans?!" she cried, quickly scanning the crumpled figure that had just materialized in the corner of her bedroom. "Are you okay?! Y-you- I-"

"ugh... where-? woah, calm down, alph. it's just ketchup." he groaned. "i'm just dizzy, s'all."

"But... what happened? That thing took down U-undyne, how did you... not..."

"it's a long story. later, okay?"

"S-sans... this i-isn't a time for _not talking!_ " Alphys cried in exasperation. Looking down at him with concern, she added to herself, _Besides. If that thing has a weakness, we need to be exploiting it already!_

"..." he paused, picking his words cautiously. Just as he was about to speak, he changed his mind, and looked away in frustration.

" _Sans..."_

Sans stood to his feet, and looked straight at her coldly.

 **"...I said, "later". That means "later", Alphys."** Sans replied sternly, all light and patience gone from his eyes. Alphys squeaked in surprise.

"O-oh. Right. Sorry!"

He sighed. "no, i should be the sorry one. i shouldn't be scaring you, this isn't the time for it. anyway, you need to be focusing on your job." he muttered, looking around the room. "huh. so this is what your room looks like?" he asked. "i honestly thought you slept on your couch."

"What? No... well... Maybe I do, but what does it matter?!" she exclaimed. "And what do you mean, job? My 'job' doesn't e-exist anymore. What's the point of trying to escape the b-barrier if we can't even l-leave this building anymore?"

"well, i meant leading us, didn't i? the people that are left."

"I-I-I... I'm not a leader! I fail so much... why would anyone l-listen to me? Keep the technology working, sure, but- I can't lead all those people!"

Sans wiped the streak of ketchup off his hoodie, then looked up, only half following what she just said. "sure you could, alph. and actually, i can think of several reasons why they'd listen to you. you _did_ evacuate everyone, so... you basically saved their lives. plus, you're the only person around here that still holds a royal title. 'royal scientist'. at the end of the day... the cave dims. as long as that still happens, life ain't so terrible." Sans added, with a forced chuckle. Turning towards the door, he looked back at Alphys, and nodded encouragingly. Turning the door-handle a few times, he stifled a sigh and unlocked the door before he could finally open it and walk away down the hall.

Alphys thought for a moment. _The cave... dims? Wha- that's not helpful, Sans... Wait- was he was giving me another constant?_ She began to laugh nervously at this realisation. _Ohhh god... I'm getting bad enough that even Sans can tell._ Steeling her resolve, she turned towards the hall and ran after Sans.

* * *

In order to accommodate for the few hundred monsters that were left, the True Lab had been converted into a massive indoor town. All rooms that had previously been unused and closed off had been opened up again to be used by the monsters seeking refuge, and still it was barely holding them all. It really was a place of hopelessness.

What few significant citizens were left had more or less gone back to their regular activities, however. That is to say, Grillby had set up an improvised bar in a side room, and Sans was inside drinking his ketchup. Somehow, Alphys failed to expect this. She scurried across the room, trying in vain to ignore the several gazes that were resting on her, and stood next to Sans.

"Sans, I wan- oh, t-that's... disgusting..." she immediately recoiled as Sans opened another bottle. "S-sans, since when did you _spike_ your ketchup?" she demanded, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "That's gotta be at least fifty-percent alcohol."

"fourty-seven percent, actually, but close enough."

"W-what the hell, Sans... where do you even get sp-spirits that strong down here? And you still didn't answer my question."

"beats me. ask grillby."

Alphys turned with a glare towards the fire-monster, and the peaceful bartender raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. She then turned back to Sans. "Don't drag him into this."

"okay, okay... fine. it was just an experiment that didn't go as expected. did'ya know that echo flowers make a really unique kinda alcohol? it makes it hard to recall voices."

"I've seen how much of that stuff you drink... how aren't you under the t-table by now?"

"well, firstly, do you see any tables? so i think you could re-phrase that. 'under the cardboard box', maybe? secondly, i'm a skeleton, alph. skeletons can't get alcohol poisoning, or hangovers, or any of that stuff. it just makes me sleepy."

That was when the pieces came together. Alphys looked at Sans with shock. "Oh my god, Sans, **_t-that's why you're so s-sleepy now?!_** I knew there was a reason... just didn't know what. What happened?"

 **"Well, shit happened, for one. As for details, how many times do I have to say it's _not your problem?_ "** Sans snapped, turning serious for the third time that day. The attentions of most of the bar's patrons were now firmly on the pair. From the improvised counter a few steps away, Grillby looked up again and made a few urgent gestures towards the angry skeleton, earning only a frustrated sigh.

"yeah, grillby. i know your policy around bar fights, you didn't need to remind me."

Alphys looked between Sans and Grillby for a few seconds, then shuffled backwards a few steps. "L-look. That's n-not why I came here. I... I wanted to ask you. A-a... about what you said. M-me l-leading." she stuttered quietly, feeling more and more anxious the closer she got to her ultimate question. "W-will you h... help me? Lead?"

"nah, i can't do that."

"Wh-what? O-oh..."

"i can't do that, because i'm not you." he interrupted, putting his ketchup down on a nearby box and standing to his feet. "what i _can_ do is be there. that's all i'm gonna say, and you know why." he added. For the briefest of moments, both of his pupils flashed blue, then yellow, then finally resting on a pale green; a colour Alphys had never seen them go before. He turned for the door and began to walk away slowly, before unexpectedly teleporting out of the room before he reached it. She stared at the door in confusion for a while, until Grillby finally spoke out loud.

"...he's got a good intuition, that one... Reads people better than some monsters can read words. And whatever he saw... he seems happy with it."

Alphys looked at Grillby for a few moments, then turned back to the door in disbelief.

 _What is there in me to see, let alone be happy with, Sans?_


	3. Chapter 2

**Who's in for more hopelessness? I am! Enjoy.**

* * *

 _Voices. Too many voices. What they said was long lost, for they all amounted to one thing. A united cry of fear and pain, screaming out into the darkness._

 _"Help me!" they cry. "Help me, somebody!" it calls into the void. But there is no one. No one comes. No one hears. There is not even an echo._

 _Except for the one figure._

 _Head turned away, trying with all their strength to drown out the ever-piercing cry, now rising with desperation. And it is then, that the darkness turns to an endless swirl of colours, drawing out images of death and destruction. Images of the figure's every failure, of every fate they could easily have changed. Death after death after death, that they could have stopped. If only they had gathered the courage sooner._

 _As each image began to fade out, a single image took it's place. A single blow, far more significant than all the others. Over and over, the scene played, and every time the blade hit home._

* * *

Sans awoke with a quickly-muffled scream.

The room was half-lit in a pale blue, illuminated by the blue energy gathering around and holding closed all exits- energy Sans had summoned without even thinking. Sitting upright, he looked around, and pulled a folded square of red cloth out from beneath his pillow. He sighed, examining the weave with a mixture of fondness and grief.

 _...what am i gonna do without ya, bro?_

This was not the first time he had gone down this line of thought, but every time, it came down to the same three options.

1\. Be extremely depressed.

2\. Declare vengeance on mankind like Asgore once had.

3\. Drink until he couldn't even remember who he was mourning.

He didn't like any of these ideas much, and had therefore decided to do nothing. Doing nothing had worked before, after all, and perhaps it would this time as well.

Sans turned his gaze to the window, and looked out across the empty husk known as Snowdin. Despite all logic that told him otherwise, he had decided to come back here. He was uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping near others, so he had simply gone home.

This early in the morning, the few natural light sources were strengthening. Casting shadows between the empty buildings, it made the land look just as dead as it really was. Glowing dust danced on the weak air currents of the underground, a perpetual and sickening dance, telling of the genocidal murders that had taken place over the last week.

How could it have only been a week? And yet, it seemed that nowhere was free of it- monster dust, that choked the air with the scent of death.

 _heh. the things you can get used to,_ Sans thought to himself. Tucking the cloth into his pocket, he rolled off his bed and stood up. It took him a few moments to realise what he had forgotten, and he disbanded the seal on his door, plunging the room back into shadow.

* * *

Walking through the streets could not be described as a pleasant experience. The ground was covered in a blanket of white, as it had always been, but now it was more dust than snow. It seemed the underground was now the epitome of destruction and decay. The only living things out here were the Amalgamates-

 _if that could be called living. heh, moving those things outta the labs was frustrating._ Sans reflected.

Almost as if summoned by the thought, a horrid, hulking mass rose out of the snow; in the form of a colossal wolf.

 _holy crap... endogeny?_

"well, uh... you look... different..." he muttered. "less... excited."

Endogeny snarled, then seemed to take on a look of recognition. It whined in distress, rushing up to and toppling the much-smaller skeleton.

Sans let out a small cry of alarm. "woah! calm down. i- uh- don't have any food on me, if that's what you want." Come to think of it , he recalled Alphys saying something about their colossal appetite.

Endogeny slobbered all over Sans, whining quietly and attempting to nuzzle under his arm in what seemed to be... _fear? why-_ he ran through all his scientific knowledge for a answer.

Not that simple science could explain the Amalgamates. While Sans had been assigned to oversee the determination experiments, Alphys had been remarkable at keeping him out of her work. Near-reckless confidence, a sharp tongue and unrivaled persuasive skills: it really had been a shame to see that lost after her failures.

He patted the terrified, slobbering mass of dog calmly, hoping it caught his mood. "what happened to you, huh? you don't like walking out here by yourself?"

It howled in response, pawing at the dust-filled snow like it wasn't worth touching. Sans observed for a moment, and then it came to him.

 _all the monster dust... the final physical remnants of dead monsters. the amalgamates must be absorbing it, for more physical mass..!_

He scrambled out from beneath Endogeny, and took a closer look at it. Indeed, the amalgamate seemed more... solid, then normal. It certainly wasn't dripping like normal. It also looked pissed at him, but that was probably a side effect of absorbing the memories of half a town's worth of monsters. Most of Snowdin had good reason to be pissed at him.

"don't look at me like that." Sans muttered, continuing on his way through the town. When he reached the beginning of Waterfall, Endogeny began barking incessantly.

"no, ya' big brute. you'll scare people." he replied, before summoning a warp of blue magic and teleporting back to the true lab, which was now being sarcastically referred to as "Safety, capital of the Even Deeper Underground".

* * *

Somehow, Sans had ended up with responsibilities. The biggest miracle of all was that he was actually doing them.

"kid." he sighed, sitting outside a store-room with an unimpressed expression.

"Piss off."

"woah, language! what would your _mother_ say about that?" Sans exclaimed in genuine surprise.

"I don't care what dust says about language." came the reply. Quiet sniffles could be heard from the other side of the door.

"harsh." _great, sans. you made a kid cry._

"Everything is harsh. Now will you leave me alone?"

"come on, kid. can't we have a conversation? i'll start."

"This is stupid." the kid muttered.

"i'm sans. sans the skeleton."

"I know. I'm Armae. Armae Gwrior, the disabled dino-monster kid that basically **everyone** knows because they were stupid, and trusting, and _nearly got killed_." came the response, seeped in bitterness.

"wow. that's you?" Sans replied, knowing full well how insensitive he sounded, but it was true. _dammit alphys. why does your family have to be so complicatedly screwed up?_

"Oh, _nooo_. I'm the weird old lady, back to tell you horrible jokes."

Sans flinched. "dammit armae, don't spy on me!" he breathed, resisting the urge to say it any louder.

"Or maybe I'm your brother, hiding behind the door with a puzzle in case of humans." the child continued.

Sans snapped. A faint blue glow shone through the crack of the doorway, and several thuds could be heard as Armae was tossed against all the walls in turn, several times. Sans dispelled the magic, and a small "Ow..." could be heard.

"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry. Don't abuse the disabled, dude."

There was a clicking sound, and the door swung open, with Armae clinging to the inside doorhandle by his teeth. He dropped to the ground, and looked eye-to-eye at Sans.

"kid. you can't lock yourself in cupboards. the vote just finished, and they decided to keep the monarchy."

"...What?"

"you're a prince, now, kid."

"H-huh?! I... I'm royalty?" Armae exclaimed, falling over backwards in alarm.

Sans sighed, and pulled him back up.

"yep. and the first order of queen alphys gwrior is that her surviving relatives are protected. not everyone's happy about the monarchy. come on."

Sans began walking away calmly, in the direction of Alphys' room.

Armae looked at him in alarm, before running after him.


	4. Chapter 3

**Now that I'm thinking about it, these guys have a lot on their shoulders, rebuilding civilisation. Huh. (Also, I'm going to be lazy here and basically include a mini-allegiances, because this is where 2 OC's come in and fill gaps. Still need to work on the _time_ gaps, though. :b)**

* * *

Official Announcement

To all citizens residing in the Kingdom of Monsters

By your vote, and the power of our new ruler

The following government has been appointed

With full royal status

 _Her Majesty,_ the queen: Alphys Gwrior

 _Crown Prince, heir to the throne,_ Armae Gwrior

 _Princess of the Underground,_ Tanem Gwrior

 _Head of the Royal Guard,_ Dogal Wulf

 _Royal Agent_ , Sans Aster

 _Royal Adviser,_ Gerson Redear

* * *

Sans slammed the flyer back onto the table he had gotten it from. Alphys flinched.

"What... you don't like it?" she asked nervously.

Sans paused, then shook his head dismissively, resting his hand on the table again.

"nah, that's not it. it's just... you put my _last name_." he sighed. "you know how i feel about my dad, and i appreciate that you dropped the 'g', but i'd rather just not have it there at all."

Alphys looked conflicted. "But... it's a royal document. You can't be informal on a royal document!" she exclaimed.

The awkward scientist had a decided on a new, more formal outfit since she was declared queen. A simple dark pink t-shirt with black dress pants and black leather shoes, finished off with a royal-purple cloak. Despite having no fashion sense whatsoever, she had managed to put together a decent outfit, which actually surprised Sans.

Sans changed the subject, sensing that the conversation was heading somewhere he didn't like. "dogal, huh?" he remarked. "i can see why you chose that mutt. i heard there was never a more ruthless or professional guard."

Alphys glared at him, and the skeleton chuckled. "yeah, yeah. _except undyne_. anyway, i'm technically his superior, right? i think i'm gonna pay him a visit."

"I... don't think that would be a good idea."

"what? if he's anything like his parents, he's a ball of fuzz with a weakness for my water-sausage hotdogs."

She considered stopping him for a few moments. _I- Sans- I... think I'll let him go. Not my fault if he gets mauled._

* * *

Sans wandered the many corridors and connecting rooms that made up the sprawling town the lab had become. The closer in the underground any area was to the CORE, the more things started to get... strange. One example was the labs themselves. While the building was only a few dozen paces along any one wall, the inside was disproportionately large. Once they had run out of rooms for the refugees, Alphys had simply allowed them to carve more into the stone, until the complex was the size of a small city. These rougher, more primitive passages were simply called the Den. Deep in these passages was Dogal's home, and Sans was determined to meet the new guard captain.

Sans knocked on the doorway of Dogal's room. A growling sound could be heard, and an axe whistled over Sans' head and lodged itself in the stone behind him.

"woah, calm down. that's not how you treat the royal agent, is it?"

 _"Go away, or I'll dust you."_ came a voice from the back of the room.

"i said calm down, buddy."

Another axe flung in an arc over his head.

 **"Stop. "** Sans snapped, turning serious. **"Or should I tell Alphys about this?"**

A figure rose from it's seat in the back of the room, and stumbled to the doorway. Dogal looked down at Sans with cold contempt. The six-foot-four canine was still wearing his royal guard armor, a steel suit of plate mail with a rune -reminiscent of the bottom of the delta rune- carved on the front, and a hood like those of his parents' cast a shadow over his muzzle. A crudely made necklace hung around his neck, forged from the back-blades of two battleaxes. He was tossing a dagger between his paws, spinning it between his claws.

"What do you want." he growled, not even bothering to make it a question.

Sans looked alarmed, and started to chuckled humorlessly. "oh... heh... god, you're even bigger than greater dog... but anyway, i just wanted to pay a visit. ya'know?"

Dogal glared at him, sheathing his dagger and pulling his two axes out of the far wall simultaneously, sheathing them in leather hoops on his belt. "Am I not allowed to be alone, bone-pile?" he snarled.

The skeleton flinched. "harsh words from a mutt like you. and actually, you better get your tail up to alph's quarters." he muttered, pulling a copy of that morning's announcement from his pocket and handing it to the dog.

He stared at it for a few long moments, before looking at Sans with an equally serious expression.

"I can't read."

"wait, what? are you kidding me?"

"No, I can't read. I know these are letters, but they mean nothing to me."

Sans stared in disbelief. "ohh... my gosh, the new guard captain is an illiterate dog." he murmured.

There was a blur of motion, and the skeleton took a few seconds to realize that Dogal was holding a dagger against his neck.

"for the love of... _how many of those do you even have?_ " he demanded.

The dog looked a little sheepish and sheathed the second knife into his boot.

"Two boot knives, two leg sheathed, two arm sheathed, on on my belt, two spikes in the handles of my axes, and a back-mounted neck knife." Dogal admitted. "Whatever that adds up to."

As the canine pointed them out, they became obvious. The handles of all six concealed knives could just be seen poking out among his armor, and both the belt knife and neck knife were easily seen. In fact, the only ones he couldn't see were the ones in the dog's axes, but that was no surprise.

"buddy. you have a problem." Sans stated bluntly. "but really. you're the new captain, if you haven't heard. you better get your butt up to alph and organise what guards we still have."

Dogal nodded, and rested his paws on his axes, before disappearing into the shadows and vanishing completely. Sans grinned. _i really need to get one of the guards to teach me that trick. eh, but i need to go do something agent-y. maybe i'll pay grillby a visit and sit around looking shady, or some shit._

Focusing his power, Sans pulled his hood up and warped, leaving the passage empty.


	5. Chapter 4

**This is the part where stuff happens! :D Don't you love it when stuff happens?**

* * *

Alphys flicked her gaze between the several monitors on her desk. The elevator into the labs had been disabled, to prevent the human from ever entering the complex. Unfortunately, this meant that only monsters with space-warping abilities could enter or leave, and she was not one of that small group. Managing the CORE under such circumstances was... difficult, to say the least. Well, not so much difficult as theoretically impossible- beyond basic monitoring and power-flow control.

She glared at her computer in frustration, like it was somehow their fault that she had to compromise so much of her work. Or that she couldn't stay focused anyway. Something Sans had said earlier that day still lingered in her mind, breaking her concentration. With a sigh, she powered down the screens and sat back in her chair.

 _What did Sans' dad even do to make him so awkward about mentioning it? It's not like I can find any records on the Gaster family anyway. Whoever his dad is, he must have some pretty good technological skill to wipe his existence from the records-_

There was a knock at her door, a respectful (but mildly impatient) pounding against the doorframe itself. Alphys looked up at the door without turning towards it. _Please tell me that's not Sans, complaining about how Dogal tried to piledrive him or something._ "W-who is it?" she called suspiciously.

"Captain Wulf, your majesty." came the response, in his typical formal tone.

"Oh. The door's unlocked, you know."

"I was aware of that, your majesty." Dogal replied, pushing the door open so hard that it swung around and hit the wall with a thud. He peeked around to look at the wall where it had been hit, and his tail drooped. "I apologise for the dent in your wall, your majesty."

Alphys looked surprised. "O-oh. No, it's not a problem. Now, what did you come to talk about?"

"Ah. Right." The dog visibly perked up, "I was told to come receive orders from you. By that annoying bonepile, Sand."

She smiled. "Uh, actually his name is _Sans_. And your orders," Alphys was mentally freaking out, but trying not to show it.

 _Oh my god I have to give orders what if I say the wrong thing what if he doesn't respect me what if I absolutely screw up why did I ever agree to become the ruler of this hellhole I don't have any leadership skills this was a horrible idea we're all gonna die and it's gonna be my fault and..._

"are simply to gather the remaining members of the royal guard. The people need to know there's still order. And Dogal?"

"Yes, your majesty?" he asked, entirely focused on her to the point that it was almost unnerving.

"How do you feel about your new role? J-just asking. And please- Just call me Alphys."

"Do you want an honest answer, Queen Alphys?"

There was an awkward pause. "Uh... yes, that would be appreciated."

"I'm only doing this because I'm loyal to the late Captain Undyne."

"Huh? What... what do you mean by that?"

"I don't like people, I don't like interacting with people, and I certainly don't like leading people. But if you think I'm the right monster to be captain, then I'll respect you opinion, _because it's what Undyne would do._ "

"Undyne respects my opinion?"

Dogal barked with laughter. "With all due respect, Queen Alphys, it was quite impossible to shut her up. 'Dogal, come spar with me!' one day. 'Dogal, come help me patrol the garbage dump!' the next. And then the whole time, she wouldn't stop talking about fate, and passion, and romantic crap. One would almost think she was obsessed."

Alphys, holding her face in her hands, had gone very, very red. She let out a little squeak of wordless distress. Dogal looked at her with mild curiosity and amusement.

"Does her majesty wish to discuss a different topic?" he asked calmly.

"Out. P-please- go away." she squeaked, still struggling to breathe; winded by sheer embarrassment.

He nodded formally, and left the room, presumably to go gather the guards.

Alphys turned her chair and faceplanted on her desk.

 _Oh my gosh that was so awkward he saw me I was so red he'll know I liked her what'll he say he's probably making fun of me right now I'm a terrible leader I should have kept my composure now no one will respect me and..._ Alphys whined to herself, having a complete and utter panic attack now that Dogal had left the room.

* * *

"welp. that was awkward."

She spun around with a squeal, scanning her room in alarm.

Sans was leaning back in a corner, hood up, chugging a bottle of his spiked ketchup.

"W-what?! Sans! What the h-hell are you doing in my room? More importantly, you- you heard all that?!" she demanded.

"yep. i didn't know undyne crushed on you back, though... actually, that's a lie. you both were really obvious about it."

"That's not how you know, and even I can tell."

"you got me."

"..." Alphys stared at him for a few long moments.

He met her gaze with a cheeky smirk.

"So, are you going to tell me how you know?"

Sans finished his bottle of ketchup, and warped it away with a flick of his hand. _Probably to the garbage dump._ Alphys noted.

"nope."

" _Sans!_ " she complained. "Tell me!"

He shrugged. "What? It was from before you became queen, so I don't think I have to tell you anything."

She sighed. Technically he did have to tell her, but Sans could be impossibly stubborn. It was a trait they both shared. If he had decided to stay silent, it could take hours, days or even months to coax the truth out of him. And for something as little as how he knew Undyne liked her, it wasn't really worth it.

"Fine." she muttered finally. "But n-never warp into my room again. You might interrupt something _p-private_."

Sans grinned cheekily, imagining what sort of 'private' things Alphys got up to.. "Sure, Alph." he wandered over to her and gave her a pat on the back, then left.

Alphys sighed and turned back to her computer, only to be greeted with several notifications.

* * *

 **32 files copied to external device successfully.**

* * *

 **Warning: External device disconnected.**

* * *

 **60 files deleted successfully.**

* * *

Alphys glared at the place where the missing files had been. "...damn you, Sans, and your sleight-of-hand." she whispered to herself. Her frustration boiled over at how easily she had fallen for his tricks. Distract the worker, backup and delete the files, palm the USB and watch them explain their way out of it to Asgore. It was a prank she used to pull on him all the time, back when they worked together as scientists.

An unexpected wave of sadness caught her off-guard.

 _I wish we could go back to then. When none of this had happened, and I was happy. We were so close to a way out... And now it feels like every week is the same, like I'll never get another chance to fix my mistakes._

She grabbed a half-empty box of tissues off her desk, and pulled out a few. Wiping her glasses down, she sat back and tried to clear her thoughts, her mind lingering on one question.

 _Why does Sans hate his family history so much that he'd wipe half my computer to hide it?_


	6. Chapter 5

**The power of progression! :D (Also, in case you haven't realised, most chapters take place either a few days or a few hours apart.)**

* * *

Sans inspected the small grey USB stick with disinterest. Ever since monsterkind had learned how to make them, generations ago, the little shards of surface technology had become almost worthlessly common. He flung it at the ground, and in one smooth movement, crushed the flashdrive beneath the heel of his shoe.

 _there. maybe now alph will learn to leave well enough alone._

He sighed. A small part of him wished that he didn't have to halt her efforts. But, as the rest of his mind pointed out, monsters had enough on their minds already without delving into... _that_ complicated topic. It was hard enough to manage the simple things these days.

 _speaking of managing things..._

The skeleton stood, kicking back his chair, and tried to recall which direction they had built the hastily-constructed Royal Guardhalls in. He had lived in Snowdin for years before... this happened, and it still startled him how fast some rabbit monsters could work. He wasn't even sure how big the complex _was_ anymore.

He was supposed to meet the prince for assessment fifteen minutes ago. Who knows if the kid was even still there. He gathered his blue magic around one hand as he formed a fist, and held it up like the fire of a torch. Uncurling his bony fingers, the magic spread out rapidly as he released it, staining the world around him a pale blue. By the time he was fully aware of where he was, he was standing in the Guardhall, in front of a very startled, very much fallen-over prince.

He had a vague memory of wandering the halls in the direction he thought was correct, his mind empty except for one thought.

 _you're not the only one who can screw with space and time, asshole._

Sans sighed. Teleporting anywhere was like sleepwalking. First he was there, suddenly he was here, with a journey's worth of memories that seemed more like dreams.

"hey, armae."

He leaned forward and pulled the child -the prince- up by the back of his head. The boy, still quite wary of how he had spontaneously appeared out of thin air, muttered an awkward "Hi".

"captain sonofamutt over there said i have to assess your battle skills. if you have any. ...do you have any?"

Armae seemed almost offended at what he had called the guard captain. "Yeah, o'course.." he mumbled, looking embarrassed.

"lemme guess. you can zap things."

The child nodded. "Electromancy. It doesn't do much on it's own, but, ya'know..."

Sans laughed. "not much? heck, you should have seen some of the stuff alphys managed to use it for. so, are we gonna get started or what?"

This only earned a terrified face from Armae. "Yo, I... I don't wanna hurt you..."

"noted. i won't get hurt, then."

Sans raised his arm, feeling his magic coil around it, as the world seemed to fade away around him. All he needed to keep an eye on was himself and his opponent.

 _Everything else was irrelevant._

* * *

He called forth a single bone. Then another. No reaction. With a simple raise of the arm, he raised up a wall of bone, approaching gradually towards the younger monster. And yet, there was still no sign of a defensive response from the smaller monster, who was merely following every new movement with his eyes.

A frustration arose in him. How was he supposed to know what this child could do, if said child would not exercise his own powers? An idea occurred to him. Dirty, risky, but hopefully worth it. A bone materialised behind the monster, approaching slowly, taking it's time to aim. Almost as if the bone was sick of waiting, it rushed forward at high speed, only to be met with a sound like thunder.

The boy had spun around suddenly, entire body crackling with dangerous electricity. This was unexpected, but pleasing. On a hunch, he began flinging more obstacles at his opponent. More dangerous patterns and combinations. No matter what he tried, each attack was met head on, shattered or vaporised by a field of lightninglike voltage. Out of scientific curiosity, or so he convinced himself, he gathered all the energy he could muster and formed a perfect hemisphere of bones.

The blast of impact hit him so hard, he was flung across the room, left temporarily blind and deaf. As the white light faded, and his vision began to return to normal, all he could see within the darkness of battle was a large, glowing golden orb. Pushing himself up off the ground, he approached this opaque sphere of golden light cautiously. It could serve almost any purpose, and he would have no way to tell. When he thought about it honestly, it might even explode if he got too close. But what's a little getting blown up in the name of science? a _ctually_ , he thought, _i'd rather not get blown up. that's not like me._ But still, the sphere attracted his attention. He reached one hand out to touch it, and was immediately electrocuted by a weak bolt of energy.

From this distance, he could see the truth. The ball was translucent, not completely opaque. Inside, he could just make out the form of his cowering opponent. He wondered vaguely what incredible levels of power would be needed to maintain such a shield, yet alone break it? Perhaps he should try.

 _"no."_

 _"this is too much."_

 _"i can't put science above morals."_

 _"that was his mistake."_

 _ **"I'm never going to be like Him."**_

* * *

Sans gasped for breath as his focus slipped, and colour -substance- began to return to the world around him. Several guards were standing, transfixed, staring at the golden sphere. More uncomfortably, at _him_.

 _i... i didn't... this isn't my fault!_

He considered putting voice to his protests, but he knew that they would have seen everything. What was going to happen now? Alphys would... well, Asgore brutally murdered six children because someone touched his kin, and Sans had no doubts that Alphys was even more protective of her own. Especially now that the prince was the only blood-kin she had left.

Alphys herself was standing in the rough doorway, looking horrified.

 _heh. dammit. one of the guards must have called her the second our fight got out of hand._

 _...she's probably been standing there for a while now._

 _shit. she probably heard everything i said._

 _they all probably heard everything i said._

He stared at Alphys with a dismayed expression, but she didn't see him. Her equally distraught gaze was firmly locked on the magical shield around her nephew. She stumbled forward a few steps, then rushed forward and closed the distance. Slowing just before she collided with the orb, she reached out a hand and ran it over the surface of the shield. She muttered a few words which he couldn't make out, and spun around, shoving him away angrily.

For the second time in only a few minutes, Sans went crashing to the ground.

He sat in shock for a few seconds, before standing to his feet again. He reached out for her shoulder, intending to ask her what was going on, why she was getting so worked up, but she swatted his arm away.

"Get out of my sight, Sans!" she snapped.

He opened his mouth to reply, and she raised one hand in warning.

"I don't have time for your bullshit excuses, Sans. Whatever- whatever that was, I don't want it anywhere near Armae, do you hear me? Get out!" she yelled, clearly struggling to keep her voice steady.

Sans struggled for a response, for a breath, for any kind of understanding of what was going on. Hanging his head in shame, he slipped away into the shadowed hallways and tunnels he was already so used to getting lost in.

 _i... how could i be so stupid?_

 _how could i let that happen?_

 _why does life have to have such damn bad timing?_

As he wandered the pathways, he passed a familiar empty side-tunnel, the ground scattered with plastic shards. He scowled, and stormed away, his confusion and anger turning to pure anger.

Hell, did he need a drink.


	7. Chapter 6

**Yay, nothing like messing with a character's mental state. Because really, every character here has some kind of mental issue at this point.**

* * *

Armae lay curled up against the inside of a sphere of powerful electricity. The tingling sensation flowing through his skin was so warm... Just holding his own power in such a solid shape was making him exhausted, but he didn't want to let go of this feeling of... safety. Maybe he could just fall asleep here, in the peacefulness, and pretend nothing bad had ever happened.

No one would mind, right?

He closed his eyes and basked in the feeling of happiness. It smelled like aunt Alphys. He barely even realised when he was drifting off to sleep.

* * *

He found himself standing in Waterfall, on a narrow bridge. The breath was knocked out of him by the realisation of who he was standing before.

It was _them_.

 _They_ were the one who had caused all this destruction. He opened his mouth, ready to fire any number of insults at the _beast_ that murdered his family.

But before he could speak, they laughed.

They _laughed_. They shook their head, and spoke.

"No, I'm not gonna say anything mean."

Armae stared in confusion, and turned in the opposite direction, running for his life. Tripping over a raised plank, he rolled over the edge of the bridge, barely gripping the edge with his teeth in an instinctual reflex. He whined in fear, unable to speak without falling to his death. A loud, metallic noise echoed through the cavern, and he looked up to see a helm he never expected to see again. The armour of his idol. Undyne.

Both figures eyed him for a few seconds. He whined again, trying to prompt Undyne to hurry up and save him. To his surprise, however, the beast rushed forward and pulled him up by the back of his shirt. They looked him in the eye... kindly? He couldn't understand it.

Behind him, he could feel the rage radiating from Undyne. He could tell that the only thing keeping her from trying to impale that beast was him, standing between the two. He could also remember that anyone who challenged that thing died. He had to stop her from attacking it, even if it meant putting himself on the line. Besides, despite all logic and reason, he couldn't help but feel a little grateful to it for pulling him back up.

He turned away from the beast, staring at Undyne with a mixture of emotions whirling through his mind. Awe, grief, anger- he wasn't even sure what half of them had been caused by.

"Y... yo... if you w-wanna hurt them... then..." he struggled to find the words to warn her.

 _I won't watch her... again... not ever. Not if I can stop her._

"... then you'll have to go through me."

Contrary to his expectation, this comment earned him nothing more than a dark look. _Huh? She wouldn't-_

He shuffled nervously, no longer wanting to stand anywhere near her, but not wanting to edge too close to the beast... _the honourless beast he had so foolishly turned his back to._

With this realisation came a searing slash of pain across his back, and it was as if the world around him became three shades darker. His vision swirled and rippled like a pond churning beneath some great torrent, and he found himself falling.

Gathering what scraps of logic a traumatised child falling to their imminent death could possibly manage, he took a second to process the situation.

 _This isn't possible,_ he realised. _I was... where was I? In the halls somewhere? But not here. This has to be some sort of twisted dream. That means **I** control reality here, right? It's my mind, so maybe... _He couldn't really see a reason not to try and take control.

He thought quickly. _Uh... Flat plain? Soft landing? No creeps trying to kill me? Please?_ Well, if he was going to pick anything other than this, he might as well dream big.

Surprisingly, he got two out of his three requests granted. As the flat ground rushed towards him at a pace only marginally slower than it had before, he let out a yelp and sent a blast of electrical energy down at the ground with full force. He was launched back into the air a few inches, before landing with a muffled thud and an equally muffled rude word. Struggling to sit up, he pushed himself up with another, far weaker field of electricity.

Armae chuckled as he realised he had basically just made a magical arm. Processing what he had just thought, the spark of an idea came to him, and he resolved to test his theory. Searching the ground, he finally found a rock small enough for the average monster to pick up.

 _Wait, how would I do this? I don't think I've ever summoned anything but pure electricity before... I think aunt Alphys has a sword or something, but she's a magical genius. The most I can do is like, a force field or something... _

Well, it was worth a try. He created a flat force field of electricity beneath the stone, and raised it up slowly. To his disbelief, it worked. The stone hovered above the ground with barely a wobble, as if he was really holding it in his nonexistent hands and not just magically holding it at arm's-length. A feeling of overwhelming joy sprung up in his soul. It had never really come to his mind what he'd do if he could hold things normally, because he didn't expect to ever need such thoughts. It would be better just to pretend that he didn't want them, rather than cause anyone to fuss over him, right?

Just holding the stone up while he thought made him feel tired. Strange, that one should feel tired in a dream, but it was true nonetheless. _Am I even getting any real rest doing this? What if I wake up and I really have been holding a force field up all this time?_ he pondered, reluctantly deciding to dispel his magic and go for a walk on this endless dream-cavern.

* * *

Even as he walked, Armae noticed that little things about the landscape around him just seemed... off. Even for a dream. Small feelings that he couldn't place. Not-so-small feelings that he couldn't place. Emotions that he couldn't understand. It was like some part of his brain was somewhere else, seeing something different, and refusing to share it's new information.  
Realising that maybe you were being kept against your will by- well, yourself, was both a confusing and utterly terrifying thought. He had read somewhere that in times of danger your body could act without asking your brain for permission. But that was only in life-or-death situations; it couldn't be that, but maybe it was something similar?

"This sucks." he muttered childishly. "How are you supposed to wake up from a dream like this? I'm done here, anyway." His entire body tingled with a strange feeling he couldn't describe. A curious, unfounded excitement, tainted with an equally baseless terror. Like he was about to do something he'd really, really regret.

He tried to take his mind off of the whirl of emotions running through his mind by thinking about the people that were left back in Safety.

Aunt Alphys was still trying to keep everyone contented. It _seemed_ to be going okay, but she had started carrying a weapon and he didn't know why. Maybe things weren't as good as he thought. _I guess it makes sense that people are angry about everything that's happened._

Then there was Sans, that friend of hers. Armae didn't like Sans much. He was always making sarcastic comments and appearing suddenly when you least expected it, and he didn't seem to like Armae either. _He's kinda cool, and really strong, but..._

Captain Wulf was slightly terrifying. Someone probably needed to inform him that he carried too many weapons. Armae had counted at least five, and the dog only had two hands! He didn't like to meet the captain's eye, as the dog wore a permanent cold expression, like someone had stolen all the empathy and light from his gaze.

 _Come to think of it, Sans sometimes looks like that too. Maybe they're both grumpy jerks or something._

He sat down awkwardly, staring at the ground as he wondered what could have happened to them, that they both coped so unusually badly with the disasters that had occurred. He didn't even notice as everything around him returned to black, or the intrigued eyes watching him as his dream faded away to nothing.


End file.
